NORTH ADAMS (Thursday, January 24, 2013) – As work to complete the rehabilitation of the Hadley Overpass continues, crews are shifting to the bridge’s truss system underneath the roadway to complete necessary steel repairs.

The rehabilitation of the Hadley Overpass is a $34.5 million project to repair the bridge carrying Route 8/State Street over the Hoosic River and the B&M Railroad. The project is being completed in stages to maintain two-way travel over the bridge during construction. At this time, work is focused on steel repairs underneath the bridge deck on the west side of the center span.

In addition to the ongoing steel repairs, the upcoming work items are as follows:

Beginning next week, the contractor will begin replacing the bridge deck on the west side of the bridge. This item will be done with the existing traffic configuration in place.

In early summer, the traffic configuration will be relocated to the west side of the bridge to allow the contractor to continue steel repairs on the east side of the bridge.

Upon completion of steel repairs to the east side, the contractor will begin deck replacement to that side of the bridge.

In early fall, the contractor will shift traffic again: northbound traffic will be shifted to the east side of the bridge and southbound traffic will be shifted to the west side of the bridge. At that time, the contractor will perform steel repairs underneath the bridge, which will be followed by replacing the deck for the center portion of the bridge.

The majority of construction activities are expected to finish in late 2013, with final painting of the truss scheduled for the spring of 2014. Painting of the truss will not affect travel over the bridge or railroad operations. At that time, drivers will have full beneficial use of the bridge.

MassDOT encourages drivers to reduce speed when traveling through this area; additionally, drivers are urged to use extreme caution when the traffic configuration changes.

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